The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
I wish I would have pulled the trigger on that black micarta. From the photos, it is my favorite cover on this run. I never thought it would look so nice. Hence, I ignored it. My loss.All 4 items in this picture were given to me as gifts this year. 2 from the UK, one from Canada and the 78 from a very good friend in Germany. Feeling very fortunate
Real nice smooth white bone Ratbert!!
The 78's excellent covers are making it difficult to not purchase one of each.
I love new knife days... They tend to be the happiest of them all.
Over the weekend I received a 14 that was my first of that pattern and today, not only do I receive my first 78 but also my first Fiddleback. Christmas has come a little early for me and I am quite thrilled as you can imagine.
For this particular 78 run, I wanted to experience the 2 blade and the single blade variants and so I ended up putting in for a 2 blade version with Cocobolo covers in the Tidioute trim and a single blade version with Ebony covers in the Northfield trim when they become available. This way I could experience this pattern in both trims with both configurations.
First to arrive is the 2 blade in Cocobolo. Mike from CollectorKnives sent me a beautiful example, I find it simply stunning. When I opened up the tube and initially examined the knife it looked somewhat familiar and I might be mistaken, but it looks an awful lot like the knife Mike used as his display model on his website. Just some stunning and (what I find to be) rather unique grain on this example.
My initial observations are that this is a big knife. It is hefty, fills the hand considerably, and feels quite solid. Having become rather accustomed to the Churchill, the added weight and girth of the 78 came as a bit of a surprise, but not in a bad way. I imagine the single blade version will feel a bit more similar to the Churchill as it will be lacking the additional spring, liner, and blade.
The pulls are nice and feel a bit stouter than my Churchill. That could be because the Churchill has been broken in and does not have half stops but I do think that the pull is likely a bit heftier than my 35 was when I first got it. No lazy blades on this 78, that's for sure, it opens and snaps closed with authority, it is quite a pleasure.
The nail nick on the main blade is ever so slightly obscured by the secondary but it doesn't impact function or accessibility for me and I likely wouldn't even have noticed had it not been mentioned earlier in this thread.
A great, solid knife that I will be looking forward to adding to my carry rotation. Thank you, @knifeswapper, for the excellent knife and service.
Now for some pictures.... (Please forgive the gratuitous Fiddleback picture, but it did arrive on the same day....)
All 4 items in this picture were given to me as gifts this year. 2 from the UK, one from Canada and the 78 from a very good friend in Germany. Feeling very fortunate
Which one's from Canada? 
"Golden Brown Scrat Jigged Bone." Looks absolutely delicious.
Thanks for the heads up!
That's a phenomenal example you've got there! I've been trying to find a dealer photo with similar grain.I love new knife days... They tend to be the happiest of them all.
Over the weekend I received a 14 that was my first of that pattern and today, not only do I receive my first 78 but also my first Fiddleback. Christmas has come a little early for me and I am quite thrilled as you can imagine.
For this particular 78 run, I wanted to experience the 2 blade and the single blade variants and so I ended up putting in for a 2 blade version with Cocobolo covers in the Tidioute trim and a single blade version with Ebony covers in the Northfield trim when they become available. This way I could experience this pattern in both trims with both configurations.
First to arrive is the 2 blade in Cocobolo. Mike from CollectorKnives sent me a beautiful example, I find it simply stunning. When I opened up the tube and initially examined the knife it looked somewhat familiar and I might be mistaken, but it looks an awful lot like the knife Mike used as his display model on his website. Just some stunning and (what I find to be) rather unique grain on this example.
My initial observations are that this is a big knife. It is hefty, fills the hand considerably, and feels quite solid. Having become rather accustomed to the Churchill, the added weight and girth of the 78 came as a bit of a surprise, but not in a bad way. I imagine the single blade version will feel a bit more similar to the Churchill as it will be lacking the additional spring, liner, and blade.
The pulls are nice and feel a bit stouter than my Churchill. That could be because the Churchill has been broken in and does not have half stops but I do think that the pull is likely a bit heftier than my 35 was when I first got it. No lazy blades on this 78, that's for sure, it opens and snaps closed with authority, it is quite a pleasure.
The nail nick on the main blade is ever so slightly obscured by the secondary but it doesn't impact function or accessibility for me and I likely wouldn't even have noticed had it not been mentioned earlier in this thread.
A great, solid knife that I will be looking forward to adding to my carry rotation. Thank you, @knifeswapper, for the excellent knife and service.
Now for some pictures.... (Please forgive the gratuitous Fiddleback picture, but it did arrive on the same day....)
I was trying to decide if I wanted the NF jigged bone single blade or the Smoky Mountain SFO. If the single NF comes out this good I will for sure pick it."Golden Brown Scrat Jigged Bone." Looks absolutely delicious.
You sold a bunch of these with the fine photographs...yowza !! And the Fiddleback is to die for !!!I love new knife days... They tend to be the happiest of them all.
Over the weekend I received a 14 that was my first of that pattern and today, not only do I receive my first 78 but also my first Fiddleback. Christmas has come a little early for me and I am quite thrilled as you can imagine.
For this particular 78 run, I wanted to experience the 2 blade and the single blade variants and so I ended up putting in for a 2 blade version with Cocobolo covers in the Tidioute trim and a single blade version with Ebony covers in the Northfield trim when they become available. This way I could experience this pattern in both trims with both configurations.
First to arrive is the 2 blade in Cocobolo. Mike from CollectorKnives sent me a beautiful example, I find it simply stunning. When I opened up the tube and initially examined the knife it looked somewhat familiar and I might be mistaken, but it looks an awful lot like the knife Mike used as his display model on his website. Just some stunning and (what I find to be) rather unique grain on this example.
My initial observations are that this is a big knife. It is hefty, fills the hand considerably, and feels quite solid. Having become rather accustomed to the Churchill, the added weight and girth of the 78 came as a bit of a surprise, but not in a bad way. I imagine the single blade version will feel a bit more similar to the Churchill as it will be lacking the additional spring, liner, and blade.
The pulls are nice and feel a bit stouter than my Churchill. That could be because the Churchill has been broken in and does not have half stops but I do think that the pull is likely a bit heftier than my 35 was when I first got it. No lazy blades on this 78, that's for sure, it opens and snaps closed with authority, it is quite a pleasure.
The nail nick on the main blade is ever so slightly obscured by the secondary but it doesn't impact function or accessibility for me and I likely wouldn't even have noticed had it not been mentioned earlier in this thread.
A great, solid knife that I will be looking forward to adding to my carry rotation. Thank you, @knifeswapper, for the excellent knife and service.
Now for some pictures.... (Please forgive the gratuitous Fiddleback picture, but it did arrive on the same day....)
